Extortion
by Chrys-DASL
Summary: When Muffy wakes up to find Bailey gone, she is beside herself to know where her beloved butler has gone. Soon she realizes he's been kidnapping in a plot to get back at her father. Can the Crosswires rescue Bailey? One-shot. R&R.


EXTORTION

Theme 37: Kidnapped

Character: Bailey

Muffy woke up and looked around her room. Everything was where it should be. Her school clothes and bookbag were placed beside the closet with care on a large armchair Bailey had brought in specifically for this purpose. On the table next to her computer desk, her cellphone and tablet sat in their charging station, where Bailey would place them first thing in the morning so she could have access as soon as she woke up. Muffy yawned and walked over to the desk. She turned on her phone and waited for her notifications to come in. Ever since her parents changed the rules on her phone, this was her usual morning process, but she always woke up an hour early to have time for the process of getting fully ready.

But as Muffy looked at the clock, she realized she wasn't an hour early. She was two hours late, and it wasn't a weekend.

Muffy rushed downstairs demanding to see Bailey. She searched through every room, even rooms she rarely set foot in, on her mission to find him, but the only thing she found was her father in his office, a grim expression on his face as he eyed a letter.

"Daddy, where's Bailey?! I'm late for school, and I'll never get myself looking good in time-"

"Don't worry about school today, Muffin. Go to your room and stay there until I tell you," Ed said in a low yet firm voice.

Muffy was confused but knew to follow commands. She returned to her phone and noticed several texts from her friends wondering why she wasn't at school. Muffy didn't answer any of them as she remembered her trip downstairs. The dining room was untouched, meaning breakfast was never served. The letter her father was looking through didn't come from a mail envelope either, but it somehow made its way into the house.

Nothing was adding up, and Muffy was desperate for answers. She sat on her bed, her hair still slightly messy and her pajamas slightly out of place, patiently waiting for any signs. Her phone kept buzzing from nearby, but Muffy didn't even look at it. She didn't even feel antsy about missing calls, texts, or posts. She was more nervous about her own life and whatever was happening outside her bedroom door.

After what felt like an eternity, the door opened and her parents stepped inside. The letter from before was tucked into a golden envelope like the ones Muffy saw in offices. This one had no writing or tags on it, so Muffy knew someone had either plucked it unused from an office or bought the envelopes from a supply store. Either way it was suspicious for such a letter to be so important, especially when things felt so wrong.

"Muffin, we have some terrible news," Millicent said, "Bailey was...kidnapped. He was taken last night and he's being held for ransom."

"Well just pay them whatever they want and get him back!" Muffy demanded, wondering why her parents were making the situation so complicated.

"It's more complicated than that," Ed said, sighing heavily. He shook his head, "They want something we don't even have. Apparently there's some sort of secret information hidden on a server at the dealership, but I don't deal with that sort of thing. I've called my right-hand man, Simon Delmar. He'll know what to look for, I assume. We're working on the situation, and until it's sorted out, I want you to stay here no matter what. Your mother has called the school, and we're okay with you telling your friends that you're sick. Just don't get them at trouble at school."

Muffy nodded, not sure how to handle such news. She was allowed to skip school and use social media without limits, something she never expected. But the details of the case were even more troubling. Bailey had been kidnapped for something he and her father knew nothing about, and Muffy didn't know if the problem could be solved without something dangerous happening. She was twelve years old, so she knew this was a troubling situation that could end very badly.

Once alone, Muffy went online to see what was going on in the world. Everything was completely normal, and there was nothing on the news, local or otherwise, to suggest anything was wrong, and there wasn't anything about Bailey, the kidnapping, or the information the people wanted. Muffy had never really felt this way before, but she could sense now that the world she lived in was very different from the outside world. This news was too much for her to take, so she went on social media and browsed like usual, hoping to forget the differences.

Ed sighed as he looked up to his private technology supervisor. Anthony Damon had come to the dealership just as the internet was growing, and he was still in charge of the business's systems. He'd answered Ed's early morning call with all seriousness, and he'd completed an analysis of the company's server, which held information on customers and certain employee and inventory files.

"I've found what they're looking for, but it's not something you would have access to. It seems one of your employees has something within their files that these people want. Someone has been adjusting every customer's rates just enough to make thousands, but they have been doing it secretly. The person who kidnapped Bailey and sent that letter must've discovered the secret," Anthony explained.

Simon Delmar leaned back in his chair, "I can't believe this is happening. What's the employee's identification number? I can look it up and see who it is-"

"I've already done that," Anthony replied, passing him a printout, "This is their account. This was created by someone at least ten years ago, and I cannot track who created the account. It could've been one person or a hundred. We'll have to get someone better than me to truly track this down, and even they might not have luck."

Ed sighed, "I recognize that file. We created it as a tutorial for other employees so they could learn our systems. Someone must've hijacked it for their own needs, but you're right, we can't just look up who it is. It could've been everyone for all we know."

"It's not," Simon whispered. He sighed heavily, "I know exactly who did this, and I doubt any of this is serious. Catherine Monty asked me about that account the other day because someone left its profile open on her computer. We need to talk to Cindy."

"Cindy? That cute little blonde who just started? You must be out of your mind!" Ed exclaimed. Cindy Smith had just started with them within the last month, which meant she could've legitimately left the file up. Also, she just started at the company. How could she possibly be the mastermind behind any of this?

Anthony agreed, "She just started. Now we're just jumping to illogical conclusions based on very little evidence."

The men sighed as Millicent entered the room with coffee. She poured herself a cup before letting the men get theirs. Millicent sighed, "Muffy is in her room oblivious to all of this, but if it's as big as I think it's going to be, we're going to have to fight to keep her out of the loop. Have you gotten any closer?" she asked. The men merely glanced at her. Millicent nodded, "I suspected as much. Ed, I know you don't like me meddling in the business, but I decided to use a friend of ours to help me. Three people live beyond their means, it seems. They're in a higher tax bracket than we are, and she should know. I asked our accountant for help."

She handed a list to Ed. His jaw dropped, "Cindy's name is on this list. She must've come from money-"

"Her mother is listed as homeless, and her father hasn't been in the picture for years," Millicent smiled, sipping her coffee, "Now that we know who these people are, we should just take the information to the police. They wouldn't kill Bailey, not if they want to avoid a life sentence. They took a lot of money, but they'll only get so much time."

"Yeah, but criminals aren't that smart. We have to think of something else," Anthony suggested.

Ed disagreed, "No, we need to get the police involved. We just need to know where to send them to make sure that Bailey won't be hurt. Do you know where they could be?"

Millicent nodded, "I wouldn't have suggested the police if I didn't know. The accountant said they all own a strip mall together across town. It's currently home to some little knock-off stores, the ones in the news a lot. We can have the police use that as a cover, I'm sure. Who wants to make the call?"

Muffy was chatting with several friends when she decided to check the news feeds again. She found an Elwood City neighborhood watch group with a Twitter page, and they were the ones that alerted her to an issue. A store she knew several teens in town used to get quality knock-off purses was being raided by the police. The group was following the story, but they were suspicious because of the amount of police presence.

Muffy searched around and found this sentiment was shared by others in the community. Why were there so many local and state police officials at this strip mall? Why was there a crime scene unit? Muffy felt herself grow scared as she followed the feeds. This case was getting too much attention for a simple raid. They'd happened there before, but they were never this intense.

A knock sounded at the door. Muffy turned to see her mother entering the room. Muffy put down her tablet as her mother sat on the edge of her bed. Before she could even speak, Millicent was in tears.

"Did you find Bailey?" Muffy asked meekly. She knew this about him. She just didn't know what all the tears were about.

Millicent sniffled, "We did, but it's not good news. When the police closed in...they killed him!" she sobbed.

Muffy's eyes welled with tears. She didn't expect this. No one had.

The investigation revealed that at least ten employees over the years had benefited from the secret program hidden within the company's computers. The group that kidnapped Bailey were the ones profiting the most, but they'd made some poor investments. They were about to be discovered as well because none of them could explain their sudden accumulation of wealth. The IRS was already on top of the situation, but the group couldn't live with the thought of going to prison for tax fraud. Their plan was to kidnap Bailey, get the ransom, and use that to travel abroad and go into hiding.

Murdering Bailey was a gut reaction of the group's leader. He killed Bailey without warning, something the group testified too. The murderer agreed, and only he would be charged with his murder.

But legal justice couldn't bring back the loyal butler. The Crosswire family was deeply saddened by his loss, and the house grew overly quiet. Muffy could barely get through her day because of her grief, and soon the entire family seemed to go into hiding. They were seeking treatment to get over his death, but it would be difficult. They all agreed that they could live with the monetary losses and the extensive investigations that went along with the money issues, but what the group did to Bailey just went too far.

Eventually the case was settled, and the murderer was sentenced to life in prison with zero chance for parole. Because of the nature of the case, the rest of the group received lengthy sentences which spelled out to life for most of them. The only one who could ever leave prison alive would be Cindy Smith, who was twenty-three when she received a sixty-year sentence. She'd be in her eighties, but at least she'd see daylight again, which was more than could be said for poor Bailey.

~End


End file.
